Home Sweet Home
When you visit the same woodland all your life you get to know each tree present and are able to recollect where different birds have nested over the years. The old tree stump in this weeks blog has plenty of history – for the last ten years it has been used by Goosanders who have reared over one hundred young from inside the tree-stump . Before that for fifteen years Tawny Owls were in residence and reared over thirty young. Sadly the stump is about to fall down with age, having played its part in the success of two local species. Gallery photos click here
After many visits to the high Pennines it is pleasing to find that there are good numbers of Short Eared Owls present and hunting. After the disastrous fires of last summer and this spring I was pleasantly surprised to find Shorties present and breeding. This weeks blog photo is of a male that has just caught prey and is eating it by the roadside. As I was filming a cyclist rode past and the Owl crouched in fear showing its ear tufts which are not often seen in Shorties. Other hunting photos are in the gallery. 
It is several decades since I had the pleasure of filming Mistle Thrushes as they fed their young. The old English name for the cock Mistle Thrush is Stormcock because of its habit of singing at the height of a storm. He is the largest song-bird in Britain and regularly nests in our gardens and parks. Worms are the favourite food for their young but they are also partial to leatherjackets as can be seen in some of this weeks gallery photos. 
The hot, sunny weather of Easter has had an amazing effect on butterflies especially Orange Tips. A short walk near Heywood produced a record 22 Orange Tips, 13 Peacock, 12 Small Tortoiseshell and 4 Speckled Wood butterflies. The following day, over new ground, another 20 Orange Tips were seen in just half an hour and photos of these are in this weeks gallery with two mating.
A Brambling in full song is normally only heard on its breeding ground in Lapland. This last winter brought many to Britain and the return passage has been delayed due to the weeks of easterly winds.The recent warm weather has encouraged them to start singing which is what the male in this weeks blog is doing.They are one of the most colourful birds that visit our shores as shown in the gallery photos.
Without the white feather this weeks Tree Creeper is superbly camouflaged against the background tree and would be very hard to spot. Like the Long Tailed Tits of last week Tree Creepers like white feathers to line their nests with. Unfortunately Tree Creepers nests are much more difficult to find than Long Tailed Tits nests. I was fortunate last week to find one and spent a good hour in their company as they came back and forth with any feathers that they could find, especially white ones.